The Other Roadrunners
by StarKey25725
Summary: Dedicated to members of the Dumbledore's Army at RCNJ. In the foothills of the Shawangunk mountain range, sits Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah. Among the 5,000 students, some have a secret that separates them from the rest. Cameos of the main Harry Potter Characters will occur. What is life like for the Wizards and Witches that live in the modern day United States?
1. Prologue

Dedicated to the members of Dumbledore's Army.

Author's Note: All characters are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons is merely accidental and without intent. Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. 

Prologue: 

A young woman sat down in the mess hall with long curly brown hair. She was eyeing her breakfast of scrambled eggs, waffles and chocolate milk rapaciously. She had not eaten a proper meal since she had lunch yesterday. Despite her hunger, she checked her messenger bag first. She found her lanyard with her student ID and pulled it out of the bag. The ID carried her name: "Eleanor Meyerson", under the photo of her, which looked a little grim. Eleanor wondered if anyone at the student orientation had a good photo ID taken, but it did not matter to her. She smiled as her eyes caught the college logo, a maroon archway, above her photo and name. Today was Eleanor's first day of classes at a four-year college, and she was no ordinary 20 year-old transfer student. This made her more anxious, if possible, than an average college transfer student would normally be. Eleanor had grown up and was apart of a society – a world that still often ostracized those who chose the path that she was taking. It was foolish, dangerous and sometimes ended people in Eleanor's world in jail more often than not.

However, Eleanor was comforted that she was not alone, especially at this college and that her parents had encouraged this decision. Eleanor's stomach gave a lurch and she began to eat. She had barely finished moving into her door room the day before, despite it being a small room. She had practically skipped a normal meal over the chaos of packing what she needed, meeting her new roommates that she'd share an "apartment" with. That didn't bother her, she had shared a single dorm room with four roommates before at her boarding school for 7 years. She smiled to herself, thrilled that she was moving forward with her life and then she let out a quiet gasp. Eleanor dove her hand into her messenger bag in a state of panic. If she had lost it, if it had fallen out when she had shown her ID to get into the mess hall, she would be in serious trouble. It was something like this that made her more anxious about going to college than any almost all the students around her. However, the panic had ended almost as quickly as it started, her fingers had found what she was terrified of losing: her wand.


	2. Chapter 1

The outdoor lighting fixtures just had just flickered on at a college campus, despite the fact that the sun had not yet set. Although one would never know it, given that this part of the campus was now in cast in shadow of the main academic building. This was much to the annoyance of the lone person who was now in the shadows. A young woman with brown hair was sitting in a feature of the campus with slender half-crescent moon-shaped buildings, with a slight wooden deck that barely crept over a pond. She had been absorbed in studying a thick textbook, when there was a loud cracking of a tree branch. The young woman instinctively dove her hand into the open messenger bag picking up an ornate wooden wand and scanned in the direction from which she heard the crack. She heard another crack, and turned her head to the pond, but could only find a Canada goose swimming rapidly toward her. The goose rapidly approached, and she slowly lowered her wand. However, as she did, the Goose's eyes seem to follow it. _Is this just a Goose or is it-_

"Eleanor!" A voice shouted from behind her, interrupting her thought. She lowered her wand and wheeled her head around to see who had shouted.

"Oh, hello Ash," replied Eleanor, relaxing and quickly stored her wand in the messenger bag as Ash neared her.

"Why were you holding a drumstick? I didn't know you played drums." Ash inquired as she came up to Eleanor and put down a large sports duffel bag with a bit of a thump.

"Drumstick?" Eleanor repeated for a moment, and then a thought occurred to her as she snapped her textbook shut. "Oh, yes. It's my friend's. Her brother gave her custom made drumsticks. She left one when she came to visit me the other day and I thought I'd give it another look before she comes back later tonight to pick it up," she lied to her friend. Hoping that Ash would not press the matter further. "How was practice?" She quickly added to change the subject.

"Cool, didn't know people cared that much about drumsticks... It went well up until Leslie got hit in the foot from a line drive," said Ashley. "Ash" Stimpson was Eleanor's first new friend since arriving on campus last week when the Fall Semester had started. Eleanor met Ash as she was trying to get to her student ID card to open the door to their dorm. She nearly used her wand to do it, but Ash opened the door to discover her new roommate looking flustered with the door. Luckily, Ash had barely caught a glimpse of her wand, and joked that she should've used a sonic screwdriver instead. Eleanor's frustration with nearly being caught vanished when she realized her new roommate liked Doctor Who as well. Eleanor and Ash soon discovered that they had more common interests and a friendship arose. Now Eleanor was in the position of lying to her again, and she hated it – not that she had a choice in the matter.

"Is Leslie alright?" Eleanor asked her, as she tried to ignore the guilt brewing inside her.  
"Yeah, nothing but a nasty bruise, thank God. She'll be ready for next practice. Do you want to go to the movies? _Jurassic World_ is still playing." Ash asked Eleanor, neither of them had been off campus since classes started.

"I can't go tonight, I have a study group for Biology," she lied again in a somber tone. Another lie, yet it was not too far from the truth. She did have a "study group" tonight, it did cover biology, but it was not for the class she had tomorrow morning. She noticed that Ash was about to say, "blow it off" but this was too important of a study group. "What about tomorrow night instead?" she asked before Ash could make an unsuccessful appeal to her. Ash looked down at her friend, she knew something was up for Eleanor had been desperate to get off campus for a while now. Both of them needed to get off campus, Ash thought for a moment.

"That works actually. How's seven sound?" Ash replied as she began to pick up her duffel bag, and Eleanor stood up too. They gathered their things and began to head out pass the half-crescent moon structures.

"That sounds great, see you later then," Eleanor said as they headed towards the dining hall.

"Later, good luck with studying!" Ash shouted back as, as she went into the dining hall. Eleanor glanced back at the pond, her view limited by those structures whom she thought a witch or wizard must have designed. She scanned the pond and despite the silver finish of the structures, making the area a little brighter, she could not find the goose. She shrugged and headed into one of wings of the academic building. There, she immediately went up the stairs to the second floor and began the walk she became so familiar with. Eleanor made the turn almost automatically now, as she walked through what students had called the "Fishbowl". She shook her head, still not seeing the resemblance to it. It was too dark to really make out the pond now, which she could see from the windows of the Fishbowl during the day.

 _It probably was just a goose and not the police or the Feds,_ Eleanor thought as she began walking down the next corridor. She remembered how last year a student had been arrested at Yale, for throwing a party that violated the International Statue of Secrecy. This had prompted more policing of Universities where wizards and witches attended. She suspected, although it was never confirmed, that the Magical Law Enforcement had placed an animangi on campuses across the United States.

The second floor of the academic building was almost deserted, as was expected this late on a Wednesday. A couple of classes were still in session, a few students heading to the dining hall, but for the most part this wing of the academic building was empty. Eleanor passed by many posters still had yet to be taken down with previous information at the events going on throughout the college. The only relevant posters that still were posted along the walls and message boards were reminding students about submitting their FASFA forms on time.

Unlike Hudson River School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she had spent the best eight years of her life, her community college and this new four-year school were not free. Thankfully though, she had found filing easier than the horror stories she had heard about when she was at Hudson River. Eleanor finally reached one of the two doors to the room her "study group" was supposed to be in. It was now, where she had to clear her mind and focus on the task that lay ahead. It would be so close to the end, and Professor Ruchbah had reminded them how much concentration was everything at this point. Six months of hard work could be delayed, and Eleanor did not want to delay it any longer. She had dreamt about this day since her 3rd year at Hudson River School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had been thrilled to be accepted into a special training program.

She attempted to open one of the two doors to a classroom, but it was locked. Eleanor went to the other one. This too, was locked. Eleanor reached into her bag for her wand, gripped it and looked around. She did not see anyone, and whispered: "Alohomora". The door unlocked and she went into room **D215**.


	3. Chapter 2

The sky was a dark royal blue, slowly giving away to lighter blue and white that came with the pre-dawn sky. The birds began to chirp around the campus of Ramapo College, in Mahwah, New Jersey. On the second floor of a Village Apartment building, another noise clashed with the birds outside inside a bedroom belonging to Suite 10B. The noise was coming from room D, and it turned out to be the "Imperial March" by John Williams. It was coming from a phone that was vibrating on a small nightstand, which was situated below the only window in the room.

Despite the march playing for a good minute, Eleanor did not look up when she picked up the phone, swiped to dismiss and put it down on top of a small, wooden black box. The phone tumbled down to the floor, having not been properly placed flat down on the box. Eleanor shifted in bed, searching for the phone, but resisted getting up from the bed. She was not the only one moving in the dorm room. Above her bed, the people pictured in the posters were moving about on brooms. The people were even flying around the letters of the team names in the posters: Bronx Bombers and Hollyhead Harpies.

Although the players in the posters did not speak, they kept flying through the posters as if they were playing a Quidditch game. These two posters were not the only magical items in the room. Just a foot away from the end of her bed was an old black guitar case and it contained her '97 Thunderbird. Although it was now showing signs of mileage, it still fared pretty well during a Quidditch game with her former team-mates over the summer.

Ten minutes later, after the phone had been placed back on the nightstand, the phone went off again. This time playing the "Doctor Who Theme" on Tesla Coils, but Eleanor merely swiped to dismiss, again without looking and carefully put the phone back down on the nightstand. The night before, Eleanor and her friend Ash went to see _Jurassic World_ at the Garden State Plaza in 3D at 10:30 and grabbed food off campus afterwards, making for a late night. Unfortunately, it was not the late night, so much as the popcorn and the greasy food that made her reluctant to get up.

The phone began playing for a third time, this time the music being played was the choir version of "Here Comes the King" by X-Ray Dog. Eleanor got out of bed and dismissed the alarm, No one could try falling back to sleep after hearing the choir shouting dramatically in Latin repeatedly. She checked the time, which read 06:35. She swore to herself, she should have changed the time, but she did not like rushing from breakfast to class. Thirty minutes later, she left her dorm.

"Yes, the Tea Act is one of the most notable tipping points as we build up to the full American Revolution, but can we name some others... Yes... Martin. Right?" Asked the teacher, not-at-all surprised that someone mentioned the Tea Act and Party. He would've been rich if he got a dollar for every student who said it in his American National Government class.

"Yes. Sugar, Quebec Townshed and the Quartering Acts," answered Martin, looking at Professor Tighe.

"Correct. Most notably the Quartering Act which allowed the Crown to quarter British troops into private homes without permission. It was such a tipping point, the 4th Amendment bars the quartering of troops in private homes. I'll leave it there. Please remember that the 1 page response essay is due at the beginning of class on Friday!" Professor Tighe said as students began to pack up and leave his class.

Martin got up and quickly left. His stomach was growling, he had been in two classes back to back all morning and hadn't had a chance to eat. He reached the stair well of the Anisfield School of Business and found himself alone. Most of the students were taking the elevator or going through the G-Wing connector. _If only I could apparate on the grounds. One drunk party and we're all banned from doing easily unseen magic,_ he thought as he reached the first floor.

"Hey, Martin. Want to head to Birch and joins us for some lunch with?" asked a a girl behind him. He turned to see Alicia, his classmate from French II this morning. She was not alone, standing behind another friend, Kevin.

"Ah, no. I'm saving up a swipe for one of their theme days. I there's one next week," Mark replied honestly. He knew he had at least until midterms before he got reckless with his meal plan. Ironically, being at Muhekunnetuck he never had to worry about it. Food 24/7, if you knew the Kitchen's password or stumbled upon a House Elf at night. They walked out into the parking lot that stood between the Business School, the H -Wing and a Greenhouse.

"You sure? I was hoping I wouldn't have to sit in complete silence," said Kevin, who cast a shifty look at Alicia and Martin raised an eyebrow. They were usually talkative and had been told off for being noisy a couple of times by their roommates.

"L-SAT," Alicia replied to Martin's curious look. "I realized that teaching wasn't for me, after we did that campaign stop at a high school last year," she added quickly.

"Yeah, that was a disaster," said Martin, remembering the chaos of teens and noise. Even remembering it was giving him a headache. "Kevin you still want to teach after that?" asked Martin, wondering if he'd be the only one left wanting to teach.

"Oh yeah, still aiming for teaching middle-school. Anyways, lunch tomorrow?" Kevin replied, cheerfully though his eyes were darting to Birch.

"Yeah, of course. See you two," said Martin and waved his friends off and headed along the walkway towards the College Park Apartments and Overlook Hall. He caught one glimpse of his friends running into Birch. Kevin and Alicia had been his first muggle friends since coming to Ramapo 4 years ago, since they had met during a Intro to Psychology class. Although they grew into being close friends, Martin never revealed his secrets - not even the no-maj relatable ones.

Martin looked around as he turned to take the path to Overlook Hall. There were still many students heading back to the College Park dorms, and no one was heading to Overlook. Other students were walking to and from certain sections of the Academic Complex, but not giving much thought to anything else. He grinned to himself, he thought he'd have to wait longer. Martin stepped off the path and into the small woods that rested between Overlook, the pond, and the maintenance garage.

Crack!

Martin froze and dove instantly behind one of the few large trees to conceal him from anyone looking the Academic complex. He waited a moment, daring not to breathe. _I hope no one saw me, even if they can't see the destinati-_

"These will make good walking sticks." said a girl in the distance. Martin pulled out his wand, waiting to erase memories if necessary.

"It will, I think though kind of small. Sure, you don't want me to bring another log?" asked another girl.

Martin looked around after a moment, noticing the girls were heading to birch and let a sigh of relief. _Close,_ Martin thought and began to walk six feet away from the tree he hid behind.

"Wait, I just saw another good one!" Shouted the girl who was collecting branches for walking sticks. Martin jumped onto a fallen trunk that was a foot off the ground and then dove, into what appeared the remaining foot into what appeared to be thin air.

"Youch!" Martin yelled, as he rubbed his head. After a moment, he placed his hand on the edge of the wooden table he had just crashed into, and stood up. He removed his hand from his head and to relief, there wasn't blood. Martin's first thought was not to go to the medicine cabinet, but rushed to the entrance of his tent. _Please. Let it hold. Please. Let it hold..._

Upon reaching the opening of his tent, he spotted the girls he heard either who were going on about wood. _Thank God,_ he thought and immediately headed towards the medicine shelves as he relaxed. He knew that the spells and enchantments that hid his tent would hold, but he had no idea if the muggle-repelling charms would. He had no idea if people could hear him. He did know that they could smell scents could be, and remembering when he had accidentally left french toast burning on the stove. The Mahwah fire department showed up and could not find the source of the smell or smoke. Even as they passed within five inches of the tent. It was then, Martin realized muggle-repelling charms broke when survival instincts took into high gear.

The tent never smelled the same for a while, fearing a large new scent of something pleasant would attract people and worse: insects. He wondered if the firefighters could have stumbled in and imagined what their reactions would be to tent that was bigger on the inside. For the tent contained a studio kitchen, three bedrooms and a full bathroom. Of course, the tent had its drawbacks. It collected water from the atmosphere around it, when wasn't hooked up to a main supply and later found out the pipes were leaking (and expensive to properly replace). That left hot, dry days as an issue – no matter how much water one conjured.

Martin sighed as he remembered that, as he reached for crushed Wisdom Willow bark, added it to his cold-brew camellia tea and headed towards the dining room table. _One year left and I won't have to worry about who finds this tent – unless I want to stay in NYC,_ Martin thought as he sat down at the table.

"Another CEC event on Friday. Doctor Daniel Jackson to discuss Ancient Egyptian culture, I believe that starts at 7pm. Remember, first discussion day is next Tuesday. Make sure your answers to the questions are at least two pages long and no longer than four!" Shouted Professor O'Brien over the noise of her class leaving. Students always started to head out in the last three minutes of class, never when the class was supposed to end and always when the Professor was still speaking.

Eleanor walked out of O'Brien's class, stuffing her notebook into the messenger bag. She at least waited for the class to end before packing her stuff up. Eleanor headed out of the lower-level of the A wing and headed straight for the student center for lunch.

Despite the long line for the Birch Tree when she arrived, Eleanor decided to wait it out to get in. She glanced around to see why it was taking so long, apparently, several students were attempting to pay using their credit cards, which was taking a long for the machine to accept. Eleanor sighed. Several students decided to bail from the line, and go through the PayCaf instead. It was only after the fifth student had bailed from the wait that she had spotted Cassie, her friend from Hudson River and a member of her "study group". It was impossible not to recognize Cassie, as she had dyed sapphire streaks into her jet-black hair. It reminded Eleanor how Cassie dyed her hair different colors before every Quidditch match at their school. Cassie had been one of the best Seekers at Hudson River and Eleanor had wished that Cassie had been in Roosevelt, Eleanor's House, but Cassie had been in Buckongahelas.

Cassie had not seen Eleanor yet, so Eleanor came close behind her and whispered in a deep, low voice. "50 points from Irving, Miss Wessen. For. Not. Paying. Attention!" Cassie jumped and whirled around on the spot.

"Eleanor!" Cassie replied, laughing. "I haven't heard you impersonate Professor McDermid in weeks, how are you feeling?"

"Sick, but fine and…." Eleanor looked around as they had moved closer to the register, so she went into a whisper again. "You try impersonating anyone well when you've got to keep a leaf of a mandrake in your mouth for a five month period. How are you feeling?"

"Same. Haha, Professor Lafayette couldn't understand why I couldn't pronounce a good deal of what we were learning in French." Cassie replied, as she and Eleanor moved even closer to the register. "Told her I had some dental work going on, I think she bought it. Just glad that part is over."  
"Understatement of the past six months," Eleanor nodded in agreement, as it was finally their turn to swipe into the Birch. Ten minutes later, they had found themselves seated away from the crowd and near the windows on the lower level of the Birch Tree.

Cassie digging into her plate of Tilapia and rice, finally paused, looked around and spoke with a whisper. "I can't believe Ali and Sadr finished it already, I thought we'd all finish at the same time. Even Professor Ruchbah was amazed."

"Yeah, well everyone is different. I'm sure it's happened more often then not since the program started after 9/11 ," said Eleanor, remembering the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. That day had not only changed a lot of things for the Non-Magical world, but the Magical community had also underwent drastic changes. It had been the result of that fateful day that would eventually create the program that she and Cassie were hoping to complete, and why they had been meeting in room D215 for the past six months with Professor Ruchbah and two other students. "It's not like we're behind, if we don't get it done in two weeks, maybe.. but I doubt it…"

"I'm just hoping we'll have finished before midterms, I don't think we can get it done under that stress.. or at least I know I can't. Senior Seminar is a pain the ass. I've should've taken it in the spring," said Cassie, shaking her head.

"And have all that stress on-top of graduation? You've made the right call, the only option was to put this off until there was another opening and goodness knows when that'd be. You'd have to re-submit everything. D.M.C.'s probably going to make you wait longer to become an animagi. It was what? A year?" Said Eleanor.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd want to wait another longer and then juggle that with financing in New York." Said Cassie, for it had been her dream to work for the Gringotts branch in New York City, but they had turned her down when she had first applied. It had not been enough that she had graduated Hudson River with high marks. Frustrated, Cassie decided to major in Accounting and Finance from a Muggle University to get a position a no-maj bank and then later apply to Gringotts again. Cassie and Eleanor finished their lunch, it was nearly time for their afternoon classes. Eleanor watched as Cassie darted off to Senior Seminar. Eleanor decided to go back for a slice of pizza before heading off to her U.N. class. Although it was a fun course, it was a lot of work. It however, was nothing like Eleanor's other roommate's class for Political Science. Katrina had taken Political Science Methodology the previous semester and said it was the most grueling class she had ever taken. It was one of the courses you took that started off well in and then suddenly at the end, it was do or die. Eleanor was relieved to find out that despite it being a General Education class, she could avoid it. She checked her phone, it was nearly 1:30, she sighed and began to head out.

The Ramapo Reservation was silent, something un-expected on such a warm, sunny day. The difference today it was a Thursday and not the weekend. Therefore, other than a few people and some students it was relatively deserted. Sdar had brought Danielle for this exact purpose. They had just finished lunch and were about to head back to campus. Sadr knew it was time, they had been together since for 7 years, Danielle still had no idea where he was during the school year. He gave one last sweeping look of their surroundings, there was no one, yet he dropped his voice to a whisper regardless.

"Danielle, there's something I have to tell you," he said softly. Danielle immediately looked him in the eyes, her blue locking with his brown.

"Yes?" She replied curiously. Although her heart still skipped a beat regardless of the fact she knew full well that this wasn't about to be a marriage proposal or them breaking up, she was still surprised.

"It's a bit difficult to explain. No, I know you don't want get married," he said quickly catching her nose to wrinkle. She had warned him numerous times, as much as she saw them being together, marriage was not going to becoming anytime soon. "It's nothing..." He paused for a second. _How the HELL do I begin to tell her this? I had it rehearsed. Just do it,_ he thought. "Right, well there's something I haven't told you about me and I haven't been able to tell you until now. We're serious, regardless of whether or not we get married. But you need to know something about me, something since birth, where and what I've been doing those school years when we knew each other... Here.. It's easier if I just show you," he grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the woods.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked, no longer sure what on Earth he was going to do next. They continued deeper along what one could barely say was a stream that was near the reservoir.

"Okay, this should be good," Sadr said looking around to ensure they were the only ones there. Satisfied, they were alone, he was ready to tell her the truth.

"Have you lost your mind? Don't tell me your father is sending you back to Jordan to fight daesh," she said exasperated. Her dirty blond hair was wind-whipped and no longer found this funny.

"What? No, nothing like that," he replied instantly. He paused and checked the area around him again and stepped into the little pool of water that remained of the stream. "Watch," he said.

Danielle stared at him, bewildered. _He's lost it, that's what. I was worried he decid-_ but her thoughts stopped as she watched her boyfriend of seven years transform into a swan. _What the fuck_. She must've said it out loud, although she didn't think she made a sound, because the Sadr had transformed back into himself.

"I heard that. I've only been able to do _that_ for a few weeks, but..." He grabbed his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the stones around Danielle. "Wingardium Levisoa," he said casually, and the stones around Danielle arose from the ground, moving to form a circle around her. He waved his wand around and the stones reformed to stack themselves on-top of each other, before he directed the stones to a landing – forming a cairn. He watched as Danielle was looking at the stones as they sat perfectly ontop of each other. "I'm a wizard, so is my Dad. My mom's a witch," he added a tone of forced calm. Danielle finally turned to look at him, her face expressionless.

Eleanor had entered her Village Apartment just in time, the afternoon that had been sunny, had turned cloudy and had begun to rain. Eleanor marched up the stairs to her dorm suite, and her eyes immediately spotted a poster of the film _Midnight in Paris_ and New York Giants poster right next to it upon entering. _At least there isn't a poster of Woody Allen himself_ , she thought. She sighed and headed down the hallway to her room, tossing the messenger bag onto her bed, the second the she had the chance.

Despite the papers on her desk, she headed over to the window to allow the cool air to come in. She paused as she watched the downpour from the window, overlooking the second quad. Students had been running to their destinations, yet a quasi-baseball game on the quad seemed to carry on. Eleanor watch the students playing baseball, until something caught the corner of her eye. Sadr and his girlfriend, Danielle, walking together heading towards academic complex. Eleanor wondered if for the moment, he was going to tell her what he really was. It seemed impossible for a witch or wizard to stay in a relationship with a no-maj for over seventh months and not tell them the truth. _Then again, there are good reasons for not letting the cat out of the bag,_ Eleanor sighed, remembering her own time telling her ex. The baseball players, finally decided to run for cover and Eleanor checked her phone.

The LED screen lit up, showing the time of 14:45 and looked at her desk. It may have been beginning of the semester, but some of her homework had begun piling up. Eleanor hated leaving research papers until the end of the semester. She went over to her desk, and began writing the easiest paper, out of three this semester, for her class on the Middle East. Although easy, Eleanor occasionally took fifteen minute breaks, for the Armenian Genocide was brutal to deal with. The details from her primary source books, would turn anyone away from watching horror movies. Yet, graphic details of what had happened were not the only sickening thing. The worst of it, was as she learned in History of Magic, was that the no-maj community did nothing to stop it. Like it had done for countless tragedies across the globe.

 _How can anyone have the power to stop such things and just ignore it? For the sake of Statue of Secrecy? Let alone the when it comes to medi—_ SLAM!  
"Anyone here?" A voice called from the small common area of the suite, Eleanor opened the door to her room and peered down the hallway.

"Leia?" Eleanor asked, for Leia was the one roommate Eleanor had rarely seen since moving into the dorm.

"Yeah, can you help? I've got stuff for the party tonight," Leia replied. Eleanor cringed, she hated college parties. She headed to the kitchen and took two boxes of beer from Leia and placed them down on the counter.

"Jeeze, did you empty Fitzgerald's? There must be enough beer here that should last the month…."

"And Vodka," said Leia with a grin as she took two bottles of Grey Goose and two bottles of Romanov's out a bag and placed them on the counter. "Aaron's bringing the Jack Daniels. Ash is bringing food from Nick's..."

"How many people?" Eleanor asked, unpacking the beer.

"Five more I think. Not a problem, right?" asked Leia, who cast a look at Eleanor.

"No, but don't expect me to be around. I've got a thing tonight and I haven't recovered from something I ate," replied Eleanor, even if she did plans, she had no desire to be a part of the party when she got back.

"Ah, shame. But do let us know if we're being too loud when you get back," Leia said. as she began to head to her own room.

"You haven't been yet, but make sure to clean up. It's not like…" Eleanor paused and then smiled. "It's not like this is _Fantasia._ The mop, sponge and vaccum cleaner won't do it themselves."

"Ahaha. I promise it won't be like last time, don't worry!" Laughed Leia from her room. Eleanor sighed and headed back to hers. Eleanor doubted that very much. Katrina, the other roommate held a party the first weekend back and it was a mess…. _You no-maji should be lucky to have a witch with you, if you only could know!_ Eleanor thought as she resumed her work, wondering how people could deal without magic when it came to cleaning, especially college parties. She sighed and went back to work, had a lot to do before going to dinner and Professor Ruchbah's "class".

"Hey! Is Ellie here?" Eleanor heard a voice in a southern accent ask and Eleanor bolted up right, taking the ear buds out of her ears as the words "Back in the U.S.S.R., You don't know how lucky you are…." played.

"Ellie?" a voiced asked outside the door to her room. It was Ash and not the southern accent she had heard earlier. Eleanor bolted out of her seat grabbing her wand, pointed it at the posters and made quick waving motion with the wand. The Quidditch Teams that had been flying around had vanished and been replaced with the New York Yankees and the U.S. Women's Baseball Team. _How long had I been working?_ Eleanor thought as she raced to the door, and opened it, while stashing her wand in pocket.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Come on, we're just getting started. Have some fun before your Study Group!" Looking down at Eleanor's reaction, she quickly added. "Yes. Aaron's asking for you. " "No, I shouldn't. What time is it?" She asked warily. Aaron had been hitting on her at the last party, it had not been what she wanted.

"It's only 18:30, you've been doing class work all this time, right?" asked Ash as she entered the room, taking a look at Eleanor's desk. The laptop screen had just switched from Facebook to the screen saver, several text books lay on either side. "So come on, one drink isn't going to hurt you," Ash laughed.

"I'd love to, but can't. I've got too-"

"It's not cause of Aaron or is it the drinking?" Ash asked in a whisper, closing the door to a mere crack behind her.

"He's gotta grow up, but no. No. I've got to wait on the drinks just a little longer," she said softly. It wasn't that she didn't like drinking. Just taking it while waiting to complete the animagus process could have been catastrophic and she had no intention of messing it up. Even if it at this point it was allowed to a certain extent, according to Professor Ruchbah. "I should get a break and stretch my legs anyway. Are Orel and Raquel coming?" she asked, figuring that it might be worth it come back later, when there were more people she tended to trust.

"Yes, I think so. Mark and Carlos too. Are you sure you don't want to stay? Why waste a swipe, when we've got pizza and mozzarella sticks and more to come from CARS?" asked Ash, even though she it was a lost cost. Eleanor had already closed her laptop, grabbed her bag and phone. Ash wondered why Eleanor moved as if she was in a perpetual state of rushing.

Eleanor paused for a moment, and looked at Ash. "Yeah, I'm sure. Hopefully soon, we'll get a good party going. My friend Ali is in the Village too, she might have a party. I'm sure she wouldn't mind and I think she's friends with Aaron too." She answered, trying to not sound if she was somewhat anti-social or oddity. She had experienced that before, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Even when some of her classmates knew why when she was at Essex County Community College.  
"Alright," Ash sighed and swung the door open and left. Eleanor paused, started to head out, but stopped for a moment. She turned around and went for the small wooden black box with a small domed top that was on the top of drawers she used for a nightstand. After carefully putting it into her messenger bag, she reached into the drawer and pulled out a small emerald green jeweler's box. She grabbed the brass Star of David necklace it contained and put it around her neck. It was only then, that she set out of her room. No sooner had she appeared in the hallway, was she greeted by everyone, especially Aaron.

"Heey! Ellie, what's up?" asked Aaron who was sitting on the couch next to Ash's boyfriend Paul. Eleanor nodded to Paul quickly before her eyes began to narrow, on Aaron. He reminded her of the actor who looked like Errol Flynn in Thor, but a foot shorter and a little wider.

"Study group, going to play next year?" she replied, remembering that he was on the baseball team. The only reason he was here was because he was Paul's friend.

"This early in the semester? What are you taking again? Oh.. probably going to make the starting rotation." He replied making a pitching motion with his free hand towards Eleanor and grinned.

"Biology. Oh? Good luck, I know it's uncommon for relievers to make that switch," she retorted with a faint smile, as she opened the suite's door. She had loved baseball as much as she still loved Quidditch and knew all too well that it was uncommon in baseball for relievers to become starters. Even then, it was generally in emergency situations. At least in Quidditch, if you played the game long enough, it was relatively easy to switch positions, as she had done from beater to chaser.

"Hey! There's been R.A Dickey, Ryan Dempster-"

"Yeah, but I've caught both you and Ash. She still throws better at the end of six innings and can at least get that splitter down in the strike zone. She's got a better chance to join the starting rotation and she's not on the baseball team." Paul interjected. Eleanor couldn't help but wonder if he was obliged to say this in the presence of his girlfriend. Eleanor caught a glimpse of Leia's eyes and both looked away. No doubt that Leia was thinking about that too. Though Eleanor admitted, she had yet to see Ash pitch and realized she could not yet make judgment.

"Well, I've gotta run. Save me some of Romanov's ," Eleanor said, as she headed out of the apartment, closing the door behind her. She could hear Katrina call out: "Only if you come back!", as the door closed and she headed out towards the elevator.  
The hallways were again empty in the Academic Complex, with the exception of the Fishbowl where several students were watching the TV and charging their phones. Eleanor often wondered where on Earth all the night classes were _. Perhaps in the A &B Wings and the ABS_? There were days where it seemed that Ramapo didn't have as many classes or students that as the school claimed. Ramapo was not exactly a large school, in some ways it was just a Community College with more bells and whistles. Yet no sooner had she thought it, half a dozen students came out of the H-Wing hallway, carrying notebooks.

When the students had cleared, she could see down the hallway to D215. She could see the knobs on the doors. She wondered if Cassie or Professor Ruchbah were there yet, she sped up and only to see no one was in the room. Eleanor turned the knob and to her surprise the door was unlocked. The room was empty, there had been no sign that anyone had been in it recently as her eyes surveyed the room as she entered. The clock on the wall read 19:30. Eleanor figured she'd at least set up the room and started to move desks out of the way, eventually clearing a small space.  
"Good evening, Miss Meyerson. How are you today?" asked Professor Ruchbah, who crept into the room quietly. Even if this could be their last night doing this, it always amazed her how Ruchbah had such flaming ginger hair. If she had not transformed into a red fox during their first session, she'd of thought a tiger.

"Fine, a little queasy still… you?" She replied quietly as she watched Ruchbah sit down at the desk, pulling out folders.  
"Good, good…Hmmm, we may try something different tonight the— evening, Miss Wezen. How are you?" Eleanor turned to see Cassie walk in, she looked a little tired.

"Wishing I had never taken Senior Seminar, but good!" Cassie replied as she dropped her books on the desk next to Eleanor and sat down.

Professor Ruchbah kept taking notes now in the files before her. She looked up and eyed Eleanor and Cassie for a moment. Eleanor wondered if they had had done something wrong, but before she could worry too much about it, Ruchbah spoke softly: "Yes, I think we will try something different, tonight. One of you at a time, Eleanor please wait outside. Cassie will send you in, when it's time for your turn. And if you'd be so kind to tint the door windows, Cassie."

Eleanor and Cassie curious exchanged looks for a second, but Eleanor got up and headed out of the room. It wasn't until she closed the door that she heard a hard click of the lock, by the time she turned to look through the door window, it had been tinted. Eleanor moved off between the two doors that lead to room D215 and leaned against the wall, nervously. She now knew what the article in _Transfiguration Today_ had meant. It had referred to the process:

"It as if in the final moments, auditioning for a play in the theatre on the actual stage. The worst of it is that the theater is empty, you and your fellow students and only the judge are there…"

She sighed and took out her android phone, and began to go back onto Facebook. The newsfeed loaded, and not much had happened since she left her dorm suite. Her father had finally changed his facebook profile picture to a photo of him standing on the Brooklyn Bridge, with Manhattan in the background. Eleanor was glad for this, for the previous profile picture had been of him mocking a soppy "good-bye" to her at Ramapo. She clicked "Like" before continuing the endless scroll through the newsfeed. She saw Ash had posted some Softball memes, a couple of her friends from Community College had posted photos of their trip in to see _Lion King_. One of her close friends from France, whom she planned to meet one day, had made some long rants against Le Pen, the "Trump" of France. Further down, she noticed that a friend from Hudson River had posted a bunch of photos of Sintra, Portugal. She sighed, she longed for the day that she could finally see the world, but life happens.

Eleanor's eyes glanced to the type right corner of the screen: 19:45. She wondered how long it would take. These sessions usually went to 23:00 and occasionally to midnight. However, last week when Ali and Sadr had transformed perfectly into the animagi form, Eleanor and Cassie kept trying to make their transformations well past 1 in the morning. Professor Ruchbah had called a halt and remarked that it was a good thing that the room had been booked for the entire semester, so that there was no pressure on any of them. However, that made Eleanor worried, what if they had to do this through midterms or even to the finals? Surely the stress would make it more difficult.

Suddenly the door to Eleanor's right opened, and Cassie came out. She looked around, her black hair a little messed up and she looked a little pale. She spotted Eleanor, and without giving her a chance to speak, Cassie spoke in a shaky, but confident voice: "Yoouu'ree up, Ellie. I registered for Wednesday, when we'll be going to the city."

"You've done it then? What are you?" she asked, as she got up taking her things with her.

"A Timber Wolf. Better than a being 'Coyote Cassie' for sure. How fitting too, coming from Buckongahelas," Cassie and Eleanor laughed softly. "Text me what you get, good luck!" She added and as she watched Eleanor go into D215.

Eleanor took a deep breath and entered the room. Professor Ruchbah was sitting behind the teacher's desk, writing down notes in a folder. Eleanor put her messenger bag down on the closest desk to her, and then centered herself in the clear space set up in the front of the room. It was only then that Professor Ruchbah stopped and stood up.

"Right, let's get this started. Take a deep breath, and relax." Eleanor took another deep breath. "How are you feeling now, still queasy?" Ruchbah asked, as she surveyed Eleanor. It was if she was looking through her to insure the answer was honest.

"Better, I think." Eleanor replied, even though she had no idea if she was.

"Good, you were nearly there the last time we met. I think Miss Mizar and Mr Albreio may have made it slightly distracting. To say nothing of what their animagi forms were. But do not worry, that you did not transformed all at the same time. As I told Miss Wezen. You two were not the first, nor will you be the last to not transform on what you think is, 'on time'. It always depends on the person, never your magical skill. If you're ready and don't have any questions…"

"Professor, why did Alioth book the room the whole semester though, if we weren't the first?" Eleanor asked. Although she found Ruchbah's speech re-assuring, it did not satisfy her worries about the time it takes.

"It is not because of anyone not transforming behind schedule. It helps to have a safe place to continue practicing the transformation. I had a student once that was also attending no-maj university. He was swamped with his study work. He lacked concentration and he transformed into his animagus form in the middle of his no-maj class. Not just the first time, but four more times throughout that semester. Needless to say, it was problematic. I wanted to implore you all to take your time and have a safe space to transform on a regular basis to practice.. So if you're ready…. One, two, _three._ "

Eleanor gulped and concentrated, keeping her eyes shut. A minute passed, nothing. Eleanor concentrated harder, feeling a bit silly. She must have looked like she was very ill, and then suddenly she felt her insides felt wobbly. She felt herself shrinking, being pulled inward. It was as if there was a vacuum pulling off in space, and it felt uncomfortable. She opened her eyes, but her vision was blurry and the lights were bright. It looked like she was going downward, even though she hadn't moved. She glanced to her right arm, and she thought she saw feathers, even though it seemed to be a not solid mass. However, the moment she had realized that, she had the sudden sensation of springing forward and blinked.

"Good, good. Do you need a minute?" Asked Professor Ruchbah, Eleanor blinked again her eyesight was blurry, but was coming into better focus every few seconds. She had returned to her full height, and her arm was without feathers. It had happened so fast! It couldn't have been more than half a second, but she felt like she had run a mile.

"Yes, I think so," Eleanor breathed heavily. She put her right hand on her stomach, with her left she grabbed hold of the closest desk.

"Take your time. Transforming sickness, thankfully, goes away after you've done this for a while. It might come back, if you apparate and then transfigure immediately." Professor Ruchbah said gently, as she got out a bag of saltines and a bottle of water and offered them to her. Eleanor shook her head and grimaced, the squeezing feeling of apparition seemed to pale in comparison. Apparition at least didn't feel like all your insides were being sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Eleanor noticed that Ruchbah had her wand out, at the ready. Without missing a beat, Professor Ruchbah spoke again, gently. "One can never be too careful, regardless if it's sick or you end up with two heads."

Eleanor was not sure how to respond and compromised with a "heh". She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again in concentration. No sooner that she had shut her eyes, she felt herself again being pulled inward and shrinking. Trying hard to ignore the vacuum feeling, she thought of what it was like to play Quidditch atop Storm King Mountain. The feeling of falling inward seemed a little less intense, so she opened her eyes and looked over at one of her arms. Feathers. Definitely feathers, but she couldn't make out the color, as her eyesight was still blurry. No sooner did the excitement rise in her, she too rose.

"Damn! I thought I really had it." Eleanor said, feeling a little shaky, her eyesight still blurry and her head spinning. It could still have not been more than half a second, but at least the queasy was less intense then the first.

"Almost, that makes two birds in this class. I haven't had that happen since I taught two people up at SUNY Albany a few years ago," Professor Ruchbah said, before taking a saltine for herself since Eleanor had refused to take any. "No, they didn't end up being married." Ruchbah added with a smile, as she noticed the look inquiring on Eleanor's face.

"Did you ever have any that ended up being the same animal?" Eleanor asked curious, figuring she would by some time.

"Yes, a few times. Most notably, two students transformed into Bucks. It was bad enough that they argued before, but worse when they each had antlers." Said Ruchbah, shaking her head. Eleanor laughed, although she was not sure if Ruchbah was telling the truth. It felt relaxing to laugh and Eleanor no longer felt as if her head was spinning. She took a step back into the center of the cleared space, and closed her eyes again.

The lightening of the atmosphere seem to have helped, the inward feeling wasn't as bad as before. She kept her eyes shut as she shrank down, and only when the shrinking feeling stop, did she open her eyes. Only to immediate close them again, the light had been a very bright blur. She waited a second, and opened again. Her eyesight came into focus, but it was different. Everything looked sharp, as she focused on the cracks on pattern of the tiled ceiling above her. She lowered her gaze to her arms - no wings. She had wings where her arms should have been. They were covered in what appeared to be grey feathers, and as she tried to speak, a sqwak came out of her mouth. Professor Ruchbah made a noise and she turned to look.

 _Holy shit. How small am I?_ Eleanor thought, for Professor Ruchbah was towering over her. When she was her human self, she was about 5'6. Only an inch or two shorter than Ruchbah, now it appeared as if Ruchbah was a giant with a clipboard. Eleanor blinked and noticed that she could pick out the individual strands in Ruchbah's hair with ease. Eleanor tried to laugh, but it came out as a coughing sqwak to which Professor Ruchbah made a shooshing noise.

"Stretch out your wings, and lean back a little, with a foot out-stretched," Professor Ruchbah instructed. Eleanor nodded her head and complied with the instruction. She felt slightly silly, but Ruchbah started taking notes, measurements and walked around her. Eleanor tried to turn ahead, to get a better look at her animagi form, but all she could see were brown feathers. Professor Ruchbah was taking great detail of Eleanor's wings and back. She shifted again to the other foot, waiting for Ruchbah to free her from this awkward stance. She wanted to fold her wings, and made a clicking noise with her beak. Ruchbah shooshed her again and Eleanor waited as she heard the scribbling of notes.

"You may transform back at your leisure," Professor Ruchbah announced. Eleanor was relieved to hear the news, and she began to transform back to her proper, human self. This time, it felt like a spring that had been pushed beyond it's limits and had sprung back. Eleanor's head was spinning a little, and her eyesight was out of focus when she attempted to take a step forward.

"Congratulations, Miss Meyerson. Please come here with your wand," Professor Ruchbah said. Eleanor stepped forward, pulling her wand out of pocket. Upon the desk was Eleanor's file, and Professor Ruchbah was writing down the details on a special permit form.

"Alright. You've got a special band of discoloration around the nape and by the ears. But otherwise, you make a perfect Peregrine Falcon.. I believe you want the same date as Miss Wezen for the registration?" asked Professor Ruchbah, to which Eleanor immediately nodded. "Right. Sign here, please." Professor Ruchbah stated and Eleanor reached for her pen. "Oh, no. You must sign your name with your wand. This is a magical contract about obeying the rules of your new power and the international statue of secrecy." Ruchbah added as she caught the flash of movement towards the pen.

Eleanor felt idiotic, she had never had to sign anything with her wand before. It was only after a moment that she realized Alioth and Sadr, had done the same, but it hadn't registered. She reached for her wand and pressed the wand tip against the permit's paper. No sooner had she pressed the wand tip and began to sign her name; an ink-like substance was issuing from its tip that caused smoke to appear. It was as if she was burning her name into the paper. Usually just signing a magical contract with a quill or pen would be enough, but perhaps this was an added layer of security.

"You are all set, it's been great to have you. Good luck and be careful," said Professor Ruchbah.

"Thank you, it's been a great- ." Eleanor stopped, Professor Ruchbah had a raised an eyebrow. "Alright, a good time. I can't say the mandrake leaf and all those potions were making things easy." Eleanor quickly added, Professor Ruchbah laughed and shook Eleanor's hand.

"Indeed. Good luck Miss Meyerson. Have a great time and a good semester," said Professor Ruchbah. Eleanor went back for her messenger bag, took one last glance at Professor Ruchbah, who was now packing her things. She smiled for a moment, thinking of the memories that had been made over the past six months in this room. It had been one hell of a crazy ride, and it wasn't about to end.


End file.
